Why the 911? It's never been as easy to work on without specialized tools, and you really need a lift to work on a 911. Not to mention the expensive Porsche parts that would still remain relevant to the electric car project. If you want an engine-less car, there are probably better, cooler cars you could do?

they can be cheap (like 3, 4k for an early 912 with tons of miles and i can prolly sell the engine). without the engine and some other parts i can get the weight down to 1700lb or so which makes it on the lower end of available cars. there's enough room in the trunk for batteries.

it's been done quite a bit, but not as extensive as a market as the 914 (which goes down to 1k or so)

i also like the idea of recycling an old unusable porsche and making it run on electricity.

id like a hard top not a convertible and at least a 2+2

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Originally Posted by Cedric

No major issues with the E92 M3 so far, car has been pretty much bullet proof. DCT and Vanos can be pretty expensive to fix if any issues were to arise, i'd say, Take the car to a BMW dealership for a PPI. Measure clutch, brakes, check for any Vanos issues.
I personally would not buy one if doesnt have the entertainment center option.

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i have half a mind to buy a porsche 911 or 912 with the motor blown out (hopefully tranny still functioning) or an old one with a ton of mileage and converting it to an electric car.
bad idea?

Do you actually have the know how?
If so, then more power to you, i think so far only, RUF has done such a thing, it'll be a 2nd.
IMHO, that would be an automotive blasphemy, that's the equivalent of taking a Prius and swapping the motor out with a big block Chevy. (I think the latter would even be more interesting)

yeah ruf is one of the reasons why i'd like to do it. i realize it's blasphemous, but i feel like it'd be a fun long term green project to do.

the question i had was the 911 has a weight distribution (depending on the model) of about 37/63. I've seen crunched numbers and it looks like an ev porsche will have a distribution of 50/50. how does this impact the car?

i was thinking of taking auto classes at a community college to use their garage and learn some more.

Old 911's with that crazy weight split and the little 15" Fuchs on the 205's or whatever they were used to step out a lot, you gotta learn how to drive them the proper way. I don't think you'd necessarily need to worry about performance characteristics if you're talking electric power.

Are you talking about doing it the cheap way, and ending up with something with a 15-30 mile range? Or would step up to lithium and spend big money to do things the right way?

maybe you could look into getting somebody's unfinished 356 replicar or AC Cobra kit and adding the driveline as you wish. Those kinds of cars are designed to use inexpensive parts, are usually rust-free (fiberglass bodied) and often pop up without motors and stuff, and are always in that kind of price range.

Plus, you won't be hacking up an original vintage car, and you'll have something nicer looking with less effort.

this guy seems to have already done it. i just dont like the back end on the notchbacks and the other hard tops are hard to come by. since the trunk is going to house the batteries something with back seats would be nicer

I say a low mile C5 Zo6, but a new Miata is in that price range. C5 Convertibles. I like the Z4, but it's a car I'd buy for my BF not for myself (I don't know why I always felt that about BMW Z cars). S2K is probably on top of my list for reliable daily driver roadsters with excitement. But I would probably go with a mint Triumph TR6 with A/C. I seem to have better luck with classic cars as daily driver for some odd reason.

I say a low mile C5 Zo6, but a new Miata is in that price range. C5 Convertibles. I like the Z4, but it's a car I'd buy for my BF not for myself (I don't know why I always felt that about BMW Z cars). S2K is probably on top of my list for reliable daily driver roadsters with excitement. But I would probably go with a mint Triumph TR6 with A/C. I seem to have better luck with classic cars as daily driver for some odd reason.

~Kurt

Z06's were never convertible
C5 convertibles are decent cars, but flip up headlights are so 80's!

Pretty obvious that a C5 Z06 and all Zo6's are hardtops, but still a car I recommend for low 20's. It's great sports car for the money... C6 Convertibles may be out of his price range, but C5's are still nice cars. Regular C5's, with the Targa top can and maybe even Z51 can be had for high teens with low miles.

The Miata is far from a chick car, it's still a true sports car. A little under powered in stock form, but nothing a cheap super/turbo charge can't fix. Some even throw in LSx motors.

I was just out smoking on my balcony and this definitively late 70's/early 80's Italian car came burbling by down on the street - only got a top view of it really - I thought it was Fiat X19, but had a slightly squared off front with fixed lights I think, and then long flying buttress C-pillars that went all the way to the tail. It was not a large car, and didn't really size out to be 70's/80's supercar level, merely a smaller sports car with unique styling. What car was this? It was white with a significant amount of black trimwork on it. Lancia?

edit - haha, found my answer on google in 2 searches flat. It was a Lancia Scorpion: